The invention pertains to playing cards and more particularly to a device and methods for inspecting playing cards at speeds higher than achieved with manual inspection. Methods and apparatus for sorting are also provided.
Playing cards are used in casinos worldwide. Many casinos have hundreds or thousands of decks of playing cards in use during the course of a business day. Different casino games require different decks, that is to say that not all games are played with a 52 card deck. Playing cards are currently inspected manually. A deck is inspected to insure that, the deck is complete and that no extra cards are present. This requires sorting the cards in each deck by suit and face value. Some games use multiple decks which further complicates the sorting process. Integrity checking is usually conducted before play but is desirable before during and after play. Sorting after play is also performed so that integral decks may be re-sold.
There have been shuffling and card sorting machines proposed that do identify cards that are to be dealt. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,921,109 and 5,989,122 disclose a card sorting machine adapted for use with cards that have a bar code or similar machine readable identification. Such a requirement is impractical. U.S. Pat. No. 5,722,893 discloses a card dispenser which could use software that recognises the suit and value of each card to analyse the run of play in a casino card game. The purpose is to identify players who are using unfair strategies.
It is an object of the invention to provide an alternative to manual card inspection or sorting.
It is another object of the invention to provide a device and methods for inspecting, counting and reporting on the integrity of playing card decks.
To this end the present invention provides a playing card integrity checking machine which includes
a) a hopper for one or more decks of cards
b) a card inspection station located adjacent said hopper
c) a card transport mechanism for removing individual cards from said hopper and transporting the cards individually past the inspection station to an exit or to an accumulator bin
d) said card inspection station including a light source to illuminate at least one portion of the face of said card and a light receiver for receiving light reflected from the said one portion of said card
e) a programmable device programmed to analyse the received image to determine the suit and value of individual cards
f) said programmable device also being programmed to determine
i) the number of cards in each suit
ii) the number of suits
iii) the presence of duplicate or other superfluous cards in the deck
iv) the presence of boxed cards
v) optionally, the absence of any cards that should be present
g) said programmable device being programmed to report
i) if there are duplicate or additional cards in the deck
ii) if there are any boxed cards in the deck
iii) whether all cards that should be present are present, or
iv) if there are cards absent from the deck
h) display or printing means being connectable to said programmable device for displaying or printing said report.
By this apparatus the present invention provides a simple dedicated integrity checking machine that does not rely on barcodes or other machine readable identification. The card suit and value is detected by analysis of a portion of the card face. This information is then used to determine if the deck lacks integrity. Such a device has not previously been available.
Throughout this specification suit is meant to include the family or group of cards in a deck whether the deck be a tarot set, chinese or a conventional casino style set of 4 suits[clubs, spades, hearts or diamonds] of thirteen cards each. Cards in such games are usually individually identified by suit and value. Value means the status of the card within a suit.
The term boxed is a card that is reversed compared to the rest of the deck that is it is face up rather than face down when being dealt. A boxed card within a deck means that the deck has lost its integrity for most games played at casinos. This invention is partly predicated on the discovery that analysis of a reflected image from the face of a playing card is enhanced if a particular frequency range of illuminating light is used. This is preferably in the blue range of the spectrum.
To this end the present invention in a second aspect provides a playing card integrity checking machine which includes
a) a hopper for one or more decks of cards
b) a card inspection station located adjacent said hopper
c) a card transport mechanism for removing individual cards from said hopper and transporting the cards individually past the inspection station to an exit or to an accumulator bin
d) said card inspection station including a blue light source to illuminate at least one portion of the face of said card and a light receiver for receiving light reflected from the said one portion of said card
e) a programmable device programmed to analyse the received image to determine the identity of individual cards
f) said programmable device also being programmed to determine the number of cards in the deck
g) said programmable device being programmed to report one or more of the following
i) the number of cards in the deck
ii) whether all cards that should be present are present, or
iii) if there are cards absent from the deck
h) display or printing means being connectable to said programmable device for displaying or printing said report.
Illumination of the card face is preferably provided by one or more blue LEDS. The image reflected is captured by a digital camera relying on grey scale for image analysis. Image analysis is done by the software and without recourse to the colour of the suit, by examining parameters of the camera image such as image xe2x80x9ccentre of gravityxe2x80x9d, perimeter length, number and type of edge and other characteristics of the suit and value as they are displayed on the cards. The data output can be used to determine the identity of a card or to xe2x80x9ctrainxe2x80x9d verification or recognition software for future use. In the alternative, full colour imaging (digital or analogue) may be employed.